Quote Originally Posted by bombermwc View Post
Wambo - I did grow up in MWC, but live in OKC now. I know a number of MWC PD and FD officers. The city has made up for anything they did at that time with plenty "gifts" for the department in the last couple of years. Remember that in the years that they weren't given raises, schools were laying off teachers because of huge budget problems in the state. I see no reason why civic employees should be any different from other groups and be protected in tough times. And 29th has done a crapload of good for the budget of MWC...which in turn makes more available for the departments in sales tax dollars. They might have lost a little at one time, but it's a give and take...and they got plenty out of it. You don't see MWC folks in anything but the best of equipment, now do you?

As for OKC, personally, I am going to remember how these two groups are acting when my voting comes around. I'm going to approve Maps 3 no matter what these groups say. And next time a vote comes around to approve something for these groups, they're going to have to do a better and more factual and precise job of convincing me that they need this. A lot of the arguments I've seen on the part of these groups are wants, not needs. They say they need this item or that, but really they're just to beef up an already more than adequate system. You want to see someone with problems, go find a volunteer group with a 50 year old truck. Don't piss and moan about a 10 or 15 year old one to me. You want man power, I'll give you that one...but find me a police or fire department somewhere in the country that doesn't always want more manpower.
Maybe you need to call some of your friends on the FD to get a clearer picture. Surely you didn't miss them picketing city hall with their supporters and families? As far as any "gifts" I'm not sure what your talking about. Enlighten me. I can asssure you they didn't see them as gifts in lieu of their raises. There was a straight forward deal made, and the city reneged on their part of it. Now the PD did get caught up, but only to keep them from joining the FD in their informational picket.
As far as your stance on the OKC PD and FD, that's entirely your perogative. You and Betts and other like minded people certainly need to vote your conscience. I wouldn't expect anything different. If our arguments sound like "wants over needs" and the MAPS 3 ballot sounds like needs to you, then I'm pretty sure you and I are wasting our breath on each other.
I don't think you've seen anybody say we need items or equipment. This is about staffing plain and simple. We are operating our dept. below the numbers we had 10 years ago, while the minimum staffing levels have been raised by the city. Even the city has grudgingly admitted there is a problem.